Fifteen ESTA Standards in Public Review and a New Project

Fifteen ESTA standards and draft standards are available for public review on the ESTA TSP website at http://estalink.us/pr. Anyone materially affected by any document is invited to review it and to offer comments before the deadline. The review documents are available for free; downloading it costs nothing but time. The listing below is an alphanumeric sort. The comment due dates for the different documents are not all the same; please take note.

ANSI E1.17 - 2015, Entertainment Technology -- Architecture for Control Networks (ACN), is being considered for reaffirmation -- no substantive changes. It is a suite of documents that specifies an architecture, including protocols and language, which may be configured and combined with other standard protocols to form flexible, networked audio, lighting, or other control systems. The suite of documents is offered in a ZIP file for download. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

ANSI E1.19 -- 2015, Recommended Practice for the Use of Class A Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) Intended for Personnel Protection in the Entertainment Industry, is being considered for reaffirmation with no substantive changes. It offers guidance, in accordance with existing applicable standards, on how to select, install, use, and maintain ground fault protection devices with nominal five mA trip settings in the entertainment industry. The purpose of their use would be to protect persons from shock and persons and property from fire. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

BSR E1.2, Entertainment Technology -- Design, Manufacture and Use of Aluminum Trusses and Towers, describes the design, manufacture, and use of aluminum trusses, towers, and associated aluminum structural components such as head blocks, sleeve blocks, bases, and corner blocks in the entertainment industry. It is being revised to bring its requirements up-to-date with current technologies. Comments are due no later than December 23, 2019.

BSR E1.4-3, Entertainment Technology -- Manually Operated Hoist Rigging Systems, applies to permanently installed, manually operated hoists used as part of rigging systems for raising, lowering, and suspension of scenery, properties, lighting, and similar loads. This standard establishes requirements for the design, manufacture, installation, inspection, and maintenance of manually operated hoist systems for lifting and suspension of loads for performance, presentation, and theatrical production. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

BSR E1.6-2, Entertainment Technology -- Design, Inspection, and Maintenance of Electric Chain Hoists for the Entertainment Industry, covers the design, inspection, and maintenance of serially manufactured electric link chain hoists used in the entertainment industry. The standard is being revised to provide more clarity or requirements. Comments are due no later than December 23, 2019.

BSR E1.20, Entertainment Technology -- Remote Device Management over USITT DMX512 Networks, is a revision of ANSI E1.20 -- 2010. The standard is being revised to clarify ambiguities, fix bugs, and incorporate some additional features. E1.20 is an extension to USITT DMX512 and ANSI E1.11 that allows for bi-directional communication on the primary data link. This allows a controller to discover RDM-enabled devices on the link, to set starting addresses and other configuration settings, and to request status messages. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

BSR E1.21, Entertainment Technology -- Temporary Structures Used for Technical Production of Outdoor Entertainment Events, establishes a minimum level of design and performance parameters for the design, manufacturing, use and maintenance of temporary ground-supported structures used in the production of outdoor entertainment events. The purpose of this guidance is to ensure the structural reliability and safety of these structures and does not address fire safety and safe egress issues. This standard also establishes a reasonable standard for care by providing the minimum acceptable requirements at which temporary structures shall be designed and used. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

BSR E1.23, Entertainment Technology -- Design, Execution, and Maintenance of Atmospheric Effects, offers advice on the planning, execution, and maintenance of theatrical effects using glycol, glycerin, or white mineral oil fogs or mists, in theatres, arenas, motion picture studios, and other places of public assembly or motion picture production. The guidance is offered to help effects designers and technicians create effects that can be executed repeatedly and reliably, and so that they can avoid excessive exposure to the fog materials and other foreseeable hazards. The revision includes guidance on developing strategies to maintain an effect over the months or years of a long-running show or an extended motion picture shoot. Comments are due no later than December 23, 2019.

BSR E1.37-5, General Purpose Messages for ANSI E1.20, RDM, provides additional Get/Set parameter messages (PIDs) for use with the ANSI E1.20 Remote Device Management protocol. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

BSR E1.47, Entertainment Technology -- Recommended Guidelines for Entertainment Rigging System Inspections, covers the inspection of entertainment rigging systems. Rigging systems may be statically suspended (stationary) (dead hung) equipment, manually operated counterweight sets, manually operated hoist sets, rope and sandbag (hemp) sets, and electric hoist sets (including winding drum hoists, packaged hoists, powered counterweight sets). The document includes inspection of fire safety curtain systems, rigging only. Rigging systems frequently include combinations and variations of rigging types. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

BSR E1.62, Minimum specifications for mass-produced portable platforms, ramps, stairs, and choral risers for live performance events, is a product specification covering serially manufactured portable platforms, stair units, and ramps used with those platforms, and choral risers. It also would cover railings provided as fall protection accessories for these units. It would give minimum payload and sideways force handling specifications. It would not cover custom platforms or complete stage systems. Comments are due no later than December 23, 2019.

BSR E1.66, Safety Standard for Followspot Positions Erected for Short-term Use in Entertainment Venues, covers safety requirements for followspot positions in, or on, structures erected for short-term use, and positions not covered by ANSI E1.28. It is applicable to positions located indoors or outdoors. It addresses structural, electrical, and personnel safety requirements associated with them. Comments are due no later than December 23, 2019.

BSR ES1.9, Event Safety -- Crowd Management, defines "crowd management," as distinguished from "crowd control," provides an overview of crowd management theory and vocabulary, and applies these terms to certain reasonably foreseeable risks that arise during live events. The standard is intended both to identify minimum requirements and to provide questions and suggestions that help event organizers make reasonable choices under the circumstances of their event. Comments are due no later than December 30, 2019.

BSR ES1.7, Event Safety Requirements -- Weather Preparedness, addresses the consideration, development and use of weather planning strategies to mitigate weather-related risks associated with live events and their associated temporary special event structures. Its scope includes both indoor and outdoor events, because both have considerations for attendees. Its scope includes sites not specifically designed for public events, as these too represent unusual or unique circumstances relating to risk assessment and mitigation. Comments are due no later than December 23, 2019.

BSR ES1.19, Safety Requirements for Special Event Structures, addresses structural safety for any temporary structure used for special events ("temporary special event structures"), where such structures are used for presentation, performance, structural support of entertainment technology equipment, audience seating or viewing in conjunction with the event, and regardless if the event is indoor or outdoor. It is being revised to correct errata, and to add further clarity to its scope and requirements. Comments are due no later than December 23, 2019.

And a new project:
BSR E1.69, Reporting the Low-End Dimming Performance of Entertainment Luminaires Using LED Sources, shall describe a way of showing the end-user or equipment specifier the low-end dimming performance of LED luminaires, when the luminaire output level is set by a control signal varying over the low-end range from 10% to 0%. Right now, there is no way for an equipment specifier to see and compare the low-end dimming of a luminaire without actually looking at the unit, and then there is no way to tell another person what the specifier saw without using subjective terms. Marketing terms, such as "theatrical quality dimming" or "dims smoothly to black," seem to say something, but really have no objective meaning. Interested? Contact Karl Ruling, standards@esta.org.